Lamma island living experience

[Youli]

Hi there,

I am considering moving to somewhere quiet and with easy access to nature in HK. I am considering Lamma island, Lan tau, sai kung and any other recommendations are welcomed!

Specifically re Lamma island, would there be a lot of mosquitoes and insects on the island that would bother someone living there? Is the environment too humid for a place on the ground floor, especially in the raining season?

Please throw any living experience at me if you are willing to share! Much appreciated!

[Gollygordon]

During my time in HK, I lived on the Peak, Mid Levels, Sai Ying Pun, Wanchai, Clearwater Bay, Sai Kung, Pok Fu Lam, TST, Tsuen Wan and Lamma.

Lamma wins as an overall experience, hands down. If you are looking for nature and quiet, definitely recommend. Yes there are mozzies there but not any worse than any other somewhat rural location in HK. A few bugs etc but again nothing crazy. Super cheap rents (if you want them), genuinely great community, no cars or traffic, no chains, 20 or 25 minutes from central. Totally unique experience, not really replicated by anywhere else in the world I've visited.

I would personally go middle or top floor due to better views and hopefully a private roof. But nothing wrong with ground floor and many such GF have a garden or private area included.

I know the island very well, so happy to answer any specific queries you have either here or in DM.

[MABinPengChau]

Throwing in a good word for Peng Chau, a smaller, cheaper island with a large Wellcome right at the ferry pier for shopping convenience. Lived there about 4 years in total, made my life in HK really great, always looked forward to getting home to my lovely seaview flat...

For example, this lovely flat, a couple of minutes' walk to the ferry:

https://www.28hse.com/rent/residential/property-2012343

[Skyhook]

Lamma has some 'interesting' characters, none more famous than, Bobsy Gaia, who owns Mana! Cafe in Staunton Street Soho and has a number of environmental and earthy/spiritual things going on.

My younger self very nearly moved to Lamma, but I decided on Sai Kung instead due to practicality reasons and at the end of the day, the lifestyle between Sai Kung and Lamma back then ( and mostly still is ) was pretty similar, minus not having a ferry timetable etc. These days Sai Kung due to its rampant population growth over the past 10 years has made it a pain in the arse in regard to parking ( not to mention traffic) a car out front of shops on the weekend, like you used to easily do during the first few years I moved there, now it is always a bit of a bone of contention.

If you like Island hopping, shopping in a smallish town where shop keepers will know you by name, seeing native herds of buffalo wandering the streets etc and easy access to nature right on your doorstep, then Sai Kung will provide you a nice buffer from the hectic nature that is Kowloon or HK Island during your OFF time. Plus living in a village house be it a single floor, a duplex or a full stand alone home is much more preferable than any apartment in my opinion as living space always mattered to me. Also the expat community in Sai Kung is quite obvious with a large percentage of long termer pre 1997 handover family's although of late even some of those have started to leave Hong Kong. Overall though, Sai Kung town has everything that an expat would typically want/expect in regard to various eateries, bars and leisure space. We loved living there as it allowed us to live in Hong Kong on our own ( preferable ) terms.

Lots of various critters in Sai Kung, you'll come across the odd snake, feral cows, Bamboo Spiders, barking deer, monkeys, bats, wild boar and porcupines, which is all part of the experience.

[chingleutsch]

You'll need to visit at various times of day and week in order to check how quiet things are when the locals are at home and any holiday houses are occupied! And yeah, the wildlife is totally a thing, from midges to wild boar and big snakes (I find the little things a lot more troublesome than the big ones).

The islands are good because ferries are great for waking up and for unwinding, but it's inconvenient when they stop running for whatever reason (I lived in south Lantau pre Tsing Ma Bridge), so Skyhook's suggestion of Sai Kung area is also good. And to that I'd add that there are a lot of villages on the outskirts of places like Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Tai Po - heck, even Shatin and Tsuen Wan - where you have country park for a back yard and good bus services out on the main road (often with a feeder minibus service to the village). The main thing in ANY village area is to check that the village head is OK with outsiders living there: there are still some places around where either race memeory of the opium wars is still strong or the locals have their own questionable sources of wealth.

[irisboards]

"locals have their own questionable sources of wealth" is such a wonderful euphemism. Bravo

[Daveinhk4now]

Lamma's great if you wanna be surrounded by snobby expats and Hong Kongers who are dying to be white.

[FrancisX]

Lamma's great if you wanna be surrounded by snobby expats and Hong Kongers who are dying to be white.

. I don't know how accurate that is, but I do find island life - or indeed any small, confined community - can be a very snobby place to infiltrate.